"The truth is," he said, "that M. Fouquet has given me too good a meal. Tell me, Colbert, where does he get all the money required for this enormous expenditure—can you tell?"
"Yes, I do know, sire."
"Will you be able to prove it with tolerable certainty?"
"Easily; to the very farthing."
"I know you are very exact."
"It is the principal qualification required in an intendant of finances."
"But all are not so."
"I thank your majesty for so flattering a compliment from your own lips."
"M. Fouquet, therefore, is rich—very rich, and I suppose every man knows he is so."
"Every one, sire; the living as well as the dead."